


Two Tired Abhorsens and A Slightly Less Tired Wallmaker

by SkySkySkylar



Category: Old Kingdom - Garth Nix
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 22:30:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 435
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2245740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkySkySkylar/pseuds/SkySkySkylar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After a long day on the road.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Two Tired Abhorsens and A Slightly Less Tired Wallmaker

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably terrible. But I wrote a thing, and wanted to post it to prove to myself that I did, in fact, write a thing. So enjoy (or not), and please let me know if it is not, in fact, terrible.

The three travelers stopped with a silent mutual agreement in the clearing. Sam watched as Lirael slid off her horse, too exhausted to properly dismount, and stumbled a few steps before she was able to stand straight and remove her packs from her horse. Sabriel did not fare much better.

Sam quickly dismounted from his own horse, and took his mother's as well, leading both to a patch of grass to one side of the clearing. Lirael followed him with her horse, then limped back to her packs. Sam blinked at her – he didn't remember when she got hurt, although he had not been watching her throughout the entire day, and they had all been extremely busy. Of course, it could just be exhaustion. The day had been long enough and hard enough that either explanation was plausible.

Together, the three of them made camp and cared for the horses. Although Sam noticed that the marks that his aunt and mother cast for their diamond of protection were significantly weaker than the two that he managed, he chose not to mention it. The diamond would hold against most intruders.

Sabriel did not get out her bedroll, but instead eyed a large rock just inside the diamond, and grimaced. Then she started walking toward it, evidently thinking it would be a good guardpost. When Sam saw her, he sighed. "Mother, go to sleep," he called. "Let me take first watch." _Or the whole watch, or at least the first two_ , he thought, eyeing the exhaustion of his companions.

Sabriel turned to face him and frowned. "There will almost certainly be Dead," she said. "Lirael and I can manage the night."

Sam chose not to remind her that she and Lirael would both need their strength in the morning, and probably for days after as well, or that she was practically swaying on her feet with fatigue. "I can sense the Dead," he said instead. "I'll wake you or Lirael if there's anything I can't manage myself."

Sabriel still frowned. Lirael looked at Sam, and then at her sister. "He's right, you know," she said. "And we're both too tired to do much of anything right now."

Still, Sabriel did not move. Then she rubbed her face and sighed. "Wake me if you so much as think there _might_ be something wrong," she ordered, going back to her packs. "And I'll take second watch."

Sam voiced his agreement as Lirael crawled into her bedroll and Sabriel laid out her own, but privately he thought he might not have the heart to wake either of them until morning.


End file.
